Snow buried the roads. Only one sector thrived: The Grain Fields . Everyone needed food and medicine. Elara had already rotated a portion of her wealth there in late autumn. She explained to a freezing young trader:
In the bustling trade city of Aethelburg, nestled at the crossroads of four distinct economic zones, there lived a wise old merchant named Elara. Every year, she led a massive caravan known as the —a word in the old tongue meaning "the shifting of the seasonal winds of wealth." secloanluan
After a long winter of recession, the city’s granaries were full but no one was building. Elara announced: “The Secloanluan blows toward the Iron Hills!” She moved her capital from hoarded grain to iron picks and anvils. As the economy thawed, construction boomed. Iron prices doubled. Those who followed her prospered; those clinging to winter’s grain stores saw their wealth rot. Snow buried the roads
